Mortal Fear
by Dannyblue
Summary: Angel has a terrifying experience.


TITLE: Mortal Fear (1/1)  
  
AUTHOR: Dannyblue  
  
EMAIL: dannyblue2@yahoo.com  
  
FEEDBACK: Yes, please.  
  
ARCHIVE/DISTRIBUTION: Anywhere, just drop me a note so I'll know where.  
  
SUMMARY: Angel has a terrifying experience.  
  
SPOILERS: General season spoilers…if that.  
  
PAIRING: A/C.  
  
RATING/CONTENT/WARNINGS: R. Probably going over-board, but there's a smidge of sexual content.  
  
DISCLAIMER: I don't own "Angel" or "Buffy the Vampire Slayer".  
  
  
  
An animalistic cry ripped through the room. Like a knife cutting through flesh. Scraping against bone.  
  
Panic flooded through Angel like ice water. Every instinct screamed at him. Begged him to escape that room.  
  
But, even if he [I]could[/I] move, could run, Angel wasn't sure he would make it to the door. His legs felt as weak as a newborn does. Ready to collapse under him the next step he took.  
  
Pain sliced through him. Radiated from his hand, up his arm, all the way to his shoulder. Angel gritted his teeth, called on every resource of inner strength he had not to cry out. He'd have given anything if he could just pull away from the source of his agony.  
  
But he didn't dare.  
  
"Well, well, well," Dr. Swenson said as he straightened up from the foot of the hospital bed. He offered his patient a benevolent smile. "Looks like it won't be long now, Mrs. Angel."  
  
"Great!" Cordelia panted. "Fine! Whatever!" As her contraction eased, she glanced down at Angel's hand, which she still held clutched in her vice- like grip. With a grimace of distaste, she tossed his hand away from her.  
  
"How are you doing, Cordy?" Angel asked, worried eyes glued to her face. "Can I get you anything? Ice chips?"  
  
"Shut up, Angel," his wife snapped.  
  
Angel barely heard her. All he heard were her deep, exhausted breaths. All he saw were the beads of sweat on her forehead. The lines of pain etched into her face. "Do you want me to rub your back? Or maybe I could…"  
  
"Just [I]shut up[/I], Angel." With a tired sigh, Cordy let her head fall back against the pillows. Eyes closed, she rubbed the sides of her swollen belly.  
  
Distressed, Angel swallowed. He felt so helpless, just standing here like a…like a person who couldn't help.  
  
Soon after Cordy went into labor, Angel realized that watching her struggle to bring their child into the world would be one of the hardest things he'd ever done. But, as hard as the process was on him, for her it was a hundred times worse.  
  
There had to be something he could do.  
  
"Cordy, I…"  
  
Cordelia moved so fast, even Angel—with his vampiric senses-didn't see it. She grabbed him by the collar and yanked him towards the bed…with a strength even her demon aspect couldn't explain.  
  
Struggling into a half sitting position, she pulled his face to within an inch of hers.  
  
Angel was startled, to say the least. Bent into an awkward position, he gazed into her hazel eyes…and gulped. In that moment, Cordelia seemed to push all the pain, all the hurt away. She had focused on this one moment with a crystal clarity many a Master Vampire would envy.  
  
"Angel," she said in a deathly quiet voice. "Your voice is really annoying me right now. Which is why I don't want to [b]hear[/b] it. If I hear your voice again, I'm going to hurt you." She pulled him a fraction of an inch closer. Until he felt the heat of her body sear his undead flesh. "Are you understanding me?"  
  
Dumbfounded, Angel could only nod.  
  
Satisfied, Cordy pushed him away from the bed.  
  
The stunned vampire staggered away from the bed. Too shocked to notice the sympathetic glances he received from the nurse and nurse's aid.  
  
Gasping for breath he didn't need, Angel stared at the woman he'd married. The woman who had become the most terrifying creature he'd ever encountered.  
  
It was all there in her eyes. He didn't know what to call it, but it was enough to make him shiver. To make him check to see if…a certain body part was still attached.  
  
Had he really thought he was prepared for this?  
  
Yes. Because, compared to the night Darla gave birth to Connor—in an alley, in the rain, Holtz hunting them down—a hospital room, decorated in a teddy bear motif, seemed like it would be paradise.  
  
Well Darla—bloodthirsty vampiress that she was—had seemed like a harmless little lamb compared to his Cordy.  
  
Was the fact that she was part demon responsible for her ferocity? For her bursts of speed and strength?  
  
Angel studied the doctor, the nurse, and the nurse's aid. They must be as startled by Cordy's violent behavior as he was. More, since they had no idea what caused it.  
  
But, no. Everyone but he seemed to think this was all perfectly normal.  
  
"Ohhhhh," Cordy moaned.  
  
Another contraction.  
  
Their stare-down forgotten, his fear pushed to the back of his mind, Angel rushed to her side. And reached for her hand.  
  
"Don't touch me!" Cordy growled. She actually growled! Her perfect teeth flashed in a sneer.  
  
Angel froze, like a frightened rabbit that had just caught wind of a hungry mountain lion.  
  
Rising up on her elbows, panting slightly as her pain increased, Cordy glared at him. "You are never touching me [I]ever[/I] again!" she said through gritted teeth. "I don't care if you give me more orgasms in one night than I can count! I don't care if you can go for hours without getting tired!" Her eyes cut through him like twin lasers. "The next time I get anywhere [I]near[/I] you, it'll be to [b]rip[/b]…"  
  
"Okay, Mrs. Angel," the doctor interrupted, sounding way to cheerful. The man acted he heard his patients threaten the fathers of their unborn babies every day. "It's just about that time."  
  
And, even in the midst of his terror, a slight smile—one filled with pride and joy—curved his lips. His second child was about to be born.  
  
Another miracle.  
  
"Are you [I]smirking[/I]?" Cordelia demanded, eyes wide with disbelief.  
  
"What?" Angel exclaimed. Wiping his face blank of any expression, he shook his head vigorously. "No! Cordy, I…"  
  
"You were smirking!" Her nose crinkled, as if she'd just smelled something completely rancid. "Well, I'm glad to see you find this amusing. Why don't you go to the waiting room and tell everyone just how [I]funny[/I] you think this is. I'm sure they could all use a good laugh."  
  
Again, that blinding panic shot through him.  
  
Leave? She wanted him to [I]leave[/I]?  
  
He couldn't leave!  
  
"Cordy," he began, trying to sound reasonable. "I…"  
  
"Just get out, Angel!" she snapped. "I really don't want to see your face right now!"  
  
Angel didn't know what to do.  
  
On the one hand, he didn't want to leave her to go through this alone. And, if he wasn't in this room, he'd eat himself alive with worry.  
  
On the other hand, all the books said the mother should be as calm as possible during childbirth. If his being here was upsetting her, was causing her distress, then maybe…  
  
Angel took one indecisive, backwards step towards the door.  
  
"Ohhhh," Cordy groaned. The sound emanated from deep in her chest. In an instant, her face transformed. The anger was replaced by fear.  
  
"Cordy," Angel whispered, her warning that she didn't want to hear his voice forgotten.  
  
"Oh," she gasped, clutching her swollen belly with one hand. Casting a pleading look in his direction, she reached out for him. "Angel."  
  
He was at her side in a flash.  
  
"I'm right here, baby," he said, taking her hand. "I'm not going anywhere."  
  
____________________  
  
Angel couldn't wipe the goofy smile off of his face.  
  
Eyes dreamy—and still a little moist—he gazed at his daughter. Who slept peacefully in her mother's arms.  
  
Cordelia was smiling gently at their latest little miracle. She looked so calm. So serene.  
  
Nothing like the woman who threatened to shove both of her fists into his mouth so that he'd get a tiny clue of what she'd been feeling.  
  
"Angel?" Cordy whispered.  
  
"Hmmm?" Angel eased himself onto the edge of the bed. Wrapping one arm around his wife's shoulders, he reached out to caress his daughter's down- covered head.  
  
"Isn't she beautiful?"  
  
"As beautiful as her mother," Angel agreed. Again, he counted. Ten fingers. Ten toes.  
  
No tail.  
  
He still couldn't believe Cordy had been worried about that.  
  
Cordelia glanced at him. A beatific smile on her face. Hazel eyes shining with love. "You know what? I can't [I]wait[/I] to have another one."  
  
Was it possible for a vampire to have a heart attack?  
  
  
  
THE END 


End file.
